Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg is born in Jettingen, Germany. Von Stauffenberg was a leader in the plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler. On July 20, 1944, he carried a bomb into a meeting with Hitler at Rastenburg. Hitler was in the room when the bomb exploded, but was only injured. Von Stauffenberg and several other conspirators were arrested that same day and executed that night.

Birth of Holy Roman emperor Heinrich IV in Saxony. Heinrich became the German King in 1054 (at the age of 4) and the Holy Roman Emperor in 1084. His reign was marked by a heated struggle with Pope Gregory VII on the question of lay investiture. Heinrich was at one point excommunicated and forced to do penance at Canossa (1077).

November 11, 1914

The battle of Lodz begins in WWI. German forces attack the Russian armies. By November 25 Russian forces have halted the German advance but the Russian army has lost an estimated 100,000 troops and the planned Russian offensive has again been disrupted.

November 11, 1918

The armistice to end WWI is signed. On this date in a train car in Compiègne agreement is reached between German civilian negotiator Matthias Erzberger and a French representative Marshal Ferdinand Foch at 5:00 AM. Hostilities cease at 11:00 AM. The actual terms, largely written by Foch, included the cessation of hostilities, the withdrawal of German troops to behind their own borders, the preservation of infrastructure, the exchange of prisoners, a promise of reparations, the disposition of German warships and submarines, and conditions for prolonging or terminating the armistice.

The German defense minister has called Niger a strategic partner “in the fight against terrorism, organized crime and illegal migration.” Nearly 900 German troops are deployed in the Sahel region, including 40 in Niger.

German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen on Sunday opened a new Bundeswehr camp in the Niger capital of Niamey.

“Niger, like Mali and the other countries of the Sahel region, is part of the European neighborhood, a neighborhood facing unending challenges,” von der Leyen said. Niger “is a valuable, reliable and determined partner in the fight against terrorism, organized crime and illegal migration in the region.”

During her visit, von der Leyen handed over 53 military transport vehicles to Niger Defense Minister Kalla Moutari as part of an “upgrade initiative” aimed at bolstering the country’s military capabilities.

Germany is also developing other defense-related projects in Niger, including building an officer training school and expanding the military section of the capital’s airport.

Niger forms part of the G5 Sahel group (G5S), a regional security initiative that includes Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali and Mauritania. The initiative was born out of regional instability triggered by an Islamist insurgency and coup in Mali in 2012.

German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen made clear Niger is a strategic partner for Berlin, especially when it comes to regional challenges that pose a threat to Europe.

In the spirit of Martin Middlebrook’s classic First Day on the Somme, Craig Luther narrates the events of June 22, 1941, a day when German military might was at its peak and seemed as though it would easily conquer the Soviet Union, a day the common soldiers would remember for its tension and the frogs bellowing in the Polish marshlands. It was a day when the German blitzkrieg decimated Soviet command and control within hours and seemed like nothing would stop it from taking Moscow. Luther narrates June 22—one of the pivotal days of World War II—from high command down to the tanks and soldiers at the sharp end, covering strategy as well as tactics and the vivid personal stories of the men who crossed the border into the Soviet Union that fateful day, which is the Eastern Front in microcosm, representing the years of industrial-scale warfare that followed and the unremitting hostility of Germans and Soviets. In his endorsement of the book Victor Davis Hanson writes: “Craig Luther’s [new book] continues his invaluable explorations of he disastrous German invasion of the Soviet Union, by focusing on the first day of Operation Barbarossa . . . A rich scholarly resource that historians of the Eastern Front will find invaluable.”

Chancellor Angela Merkel and her French counterpart marked the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I by unveiling a plaque at Rethondes. Leaders from 67 countries are set to join the weekend’s commemorations.

The leaders of Germany and France on Saturday made a pilgrimage to Rethondes, the Glade of the Armistice, the place where the document was signed a century ago to end World War I.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron took part in a memorial ceremony at the Compiegne forest, 90 kilometers (56 miles) northeast of Paris.

On the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, 1918, an initial agreement to end four years of one of the world’s deadliest conflicts was signed by the Allies and Germany in a train carriage in a nearby forest clearing, from where the two leaders on Saturday held a symbolic repeat signing ceremony.

Merkel and Macron then watched as the French and German militaries held a joint march to remember the 1.4 million French and 2 million German soldiers killed in the 1914-1918 war.

Saturday’s meeting was the first since 1945 between French and German heads of state at the location where the armistice was signed.

War to end all wars’

The ‘Great War’ mobilized some 70 million military personnel as two European alliances fought a war that, at the time, wrought death and destruction on an unprecedented scale.

Some 40 million people were killed or injured in World War I — as many as 11 million of them were military personnel.

Earlier on Saturday, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau kicked off the weekend’s solemn events with a visit to a cemetery in northern France containing the remains of 820 Canadian casualties from the 1914-1918 conflict.

Trudeau is one of 67 heads of state due to take part in the commemorations in France, which culminates with a ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in central Paris on Sunday morning. Two minutes of silence will be held around the world to remember those killed and wounded.

US President Donald Trump failed to make his planned visit to a US war cemetery outside Paris on Saturday due to “logistical difficulties caused by the weather,” according to the White House. There was slight rain falling in the area.

Steinmeier in London

Further armistice commemorations are being held all over the world this weekend, including in London, where on Sunday, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier will become the first German head of state to take part in the annual wreath-laying ceremony at the Cenotaph war memorial.

Steinmeier will join Queen Elizabeth and British Prime Minister Theresa May at the solemn observance, which will be followed by a service at Westminster Abbey.

US President Donald Trump, meanwhile, was due to visit US military cemeteries in northern France on Saturday and Sunday, where many of the 110,000 American dead out of 4 million US troops mobilized during World War I are buried.

Trump met Macron at the Elysee Palace earlier on Saturday, shortly after blasting his French counterpart’s plans to launch a European army as “very insulting.”

The pair later played down any differences over the new European defense plan, with Macron insisting it was in line with Trump’s repeated demands for European countries to pull their weight more in the Western military alliance NATO.

Serbia holds war games

Serbia, which is sometimes wrongly accused of starting World War I after a Serb nationalist assassinated the Austrian archduke in Sarajevo, Bosnia, in 1914, was holding large military drills on Saturday to mark the armistice centenary.

Commenting on the drill that involved some 8,000 troops, Serbian strongman Aleksandar Vucic said he was “overjoyed” by the display. He also announced more state investment into the armed forces and more armored transporters supplied by its traditional ally, Russia.

“I am very happy – everyone has seen the ground trembling with MiGs flying above, and when those 250-kilo (551 lb) bombs hit, half the hill was shaking,” he told the Serbian national broadcaster.

The live-ammunition maneuvers, dubbed “The Century of Winners,” are widely seen as a show of force amid rising tensions with neighboring Kosovo.

The resignation of Kaiser Wilhelm II as a consequence of the German loss in WWI. He flees to the Netherlands. A socialist government takes control.

November 9, 1918

In the face of the chaotic conditions in Germany and the threat of a leftist revolution, Philipp Scheidemann addresses a crowd from a balcony of the Reichstag and announces the formation of a republican form of government for Germany. In reality, he had no authorization to do so. Neither the government nor even his own party had agreed to such a decision. But once the announcement had been made, conditions were such that none were able to withdraw from the perception and the Weimar Republic came into existence.

November 9, 1923

Hitler stages a takeover march in Münich with 3,000 Nazis which is halted with gunfire by the police.

Kristallnacht or Reichskristallnacht, also referred to as the Night of Broken Glass, Reichspogromnacht or simply Pogromnacht, and Novemberpogrome, was a pogrom against Jews throughout Nazi Germany on 9–10 November 1938, carried out by SA paramilitary forces and German civilians. Over 250 synagogues are desecrated, over 7,000 shops are destroyed, 91 Jews are murdered, 20,000 persons are arrested. The cynical term “Kristalnacht” refers to the shop windows which were broken.

November 9, 1940

Germany invades Norway and Denmark in World War II.

November 9, 1989

The border between East Germany and West Germany is opened. During the night of November 9 thousands of East Germans flood into West Berlin.

November 9, 1992

Helmut Kohl, Michail Gorbatschov and Ronald Reagan are made honorary citizens of Berlin for their contributions to German.

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